US News & World Report, recognized leader in reporting on best colleges and universities in the United States, came out with 2018 surveys which indicated the Philippines as #49 in its “Best Countries” and #1 in its “Best Countries to Invest In” reports.

The reports were arrived at using a research methodology to score and rank countries developed by Y&R’s BAV Group and The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, specifically Professor David J. Reibstein, in consultation with U.S. News & World Report.

“Best Countries” is a rankings, news and analysis project created to capture how countries are perceived on a global scale.

The rankings evaluate 80 countries across 24 rankings drawn from a survey of more than 21,000 global citizens, measuring 75 dimensions that have the potential to drive trade, travel and investment and directly affect national economies.

Using the explanations from US News & World Report for accuracy, “...a set of 65 country attributes — terms that can be used to describe a country and that are also relevant to the success of a modern nation — were identified. Attributes by nation were presented in a survey of more than 21,000 people from across the globe. Participants assessed how closely they associated an attribute with a nation.

“Attributes were grouped into nine subrankings that rolled into the Best Countries ranking: Adventure, Citizenship, Cultural Influence, Entrepreneurship, Heritage, Movers, Open for Business, Power and Quality of Life.

“To determine the weight each subranking score had in the overall Best Countries score, each was correlated to 2014 Gross Domestic Product purchasing power parity per capita, a measure of inclusive prosperity, as reported by the International Monetary Fund.”

We consider significant three items from the reports: 1) Five of top 10 “Best Countries to Invest” are in Southeast Asia; 2) None of top 10 “Best Countries to Invest” made it to the top 10 overall “Best Countries” report; and 3) No Communist country got into the two top 10 reports.